All Past Reflections

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost"Lost & Found" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Exodus 32:7-14/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 15:1-10/NRSVUE) It was a little after eleven on the Saturday night of Memorial Day weekend when my friend David and I rolled up to the...

Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost"Choices" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Deuteronomy 30:15-20/CEB)Gospel Reading (Luke 14:25-33/CEB) Last weekend, as I’m sure you all know, was the widely-acknowledged end of the summer season. Even though Fall technically...

Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost"Places of Honor" — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 14:1, 7-14/NRSVUE) As holidays go, Thanksgiving is my favorite. I mean, what’s not to like about it: Food, family, friends, football...

Eleventh Sunday after PentecostSabbath — Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Isaiah 58:9b-14/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 13:10-17/NRSVUE) I don’t know what you’re doing this afternoon after church but I’m pretty sure I know what I’m doing if it’s not raining: yard work....

Tenth Sunday after PentecostRev. Brent Gundlah First Reading: Isaiah 5:1-7/NRSVUE Gospel: Luke 12:49-56/NRSVUE It might be hard to appreciate living in a place that’s as dry as Utah is, but when we lived in the Boston suburbs our house had a serious flaw...

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost"Things Hoped For, Things Not See" – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Hebrews 11:1-3, 8-16/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 12:32-40/NRSVUE) “Do not be afraid,” is what Jesus says in the opening words of today’s gospel reading. Yeah, easy for...

Rev. Brent Gundlah In late seventeenth-century England, a religious movement began that came to known as “deism.” One of deism’s central premises was that religion should be solely based in reason (by what we’re able to observe in the world) rather than on revelation...

Sixth Sunday after PentecostDistractions – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 10:38-42/NRSVUE) When I was in seminary I did my ministry internship at a UCC church in the town next to the one in which I lived; it was a...

Fifth Sunday after PentecostNeighbors – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Colossians 1:1-14/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 10:25-37/NRSVUE) When they were in high school, my two daughters worked at the same place, about five miles from home, which made for a pretty good...

Fourth Sunday after PentecostHospitality – Rev. Brent Gundlah First Reading (Galatians 6:1-16/NRSVUE)Gospel Reading (Luke 10:1-11,16-20/NRSVUE) When I was a kid, we generally went over to my grandparents’s house for major feasts — Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter and...